Skip to main content

St. Louis County Library Foundation’s Reading Garden Series for Young Audiences and The Novel Neighbor are pleased to host popular teen fiction author Gayle Forman for her new novel “After Life.”

Gayle Forman will be in conversation with bestselling young adult fantasy author Soman Chainani.

The event will take place on Monday, January 6, 7:00 p.m. at the Clark Family Branch, 1640 S. Lindbergh Blvd, St. Louis MO 63131. Books will be available for purchase and signing from The Novel Neighbor. 

Acclaimed author of “If I Stay” and other beloved YA novels, Gayle Forman presents a magnificent tour de force that brilliantly explores the porous veil between life and death, examines the impact that one person can have on the world, and celebrates life in all its beautiful complexity.

One spring afternoon after school, Amber arrives home on her bike. It’s just another perfectly normal day. But when Amber’s mom sees her, she screams.

Because Amber died seven years ago, hit by a car while on the very same bicycle she’s inexplicably riding now. 

This return doesn’t only impact Amber. Her sister, Melissa, now seven years older, must be a new kind of sibling to Amber. Amber’s estranged parents are battling over her. And the changes ripple farther and farther out: Amber’s friends, boyfriend, and even people she met only once have been deeply affected by her life and death. In the midst of everyone’s turmoil, Amber is struggling with herself. What kind of person was she? How and why was she given this second chance.

Award-winning author and journalist Gayle Forman has written several bestselling novels for children and adults, including “Not Nothing,” the Just One series, and the number one New York Times bestseller “If I Stay,” which has been translated into more than forty languages and in 2014 was adapted into a major motion picture. 

Program sites are accessible. With at least two weeks' notice, accommodations will be made for persons with disabilities. Call 314-994-3300 or contact us

Press Releases